


Empty Vessel, Crooked Teeth

by Kalcifer



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28063329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalcifer/pseuds/Kalcifer
Summary: TheKingdom Comecrashes. Discovery and AuDy have to decide what to do next.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Empty Vessel, Crooked Teeth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Relia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relia/gifts).



While Discovery had millennia more piloting experience than AuDy, most of that had been from within the craft's navigational systems. They didn't know very much about the front end of the equation. As such, it was AuDy who took the helm of the _Kingdom Come_ , trying to focus on the familiarity of joysticks in their hands and the sky before them rather than acknowledge the observer sharing their circuits. For their part, Discovery was happy to stay out of the way, more interested in taking in the situation than contributing to it.

The uneasy peace lasted until AuDy sent the ship into a dive half a degree too steep to recover from. They both froze. The futility of trying to avoid the crash was laid bare by thousands of instantaneous calculations even as their conscious minds insisted they do something. 

AuDy was overcome by a wave of acceptance. They might even have admitted to feeling peace, if there was anyone left to admit it to. They’d been through this again and again on September. At least this time they wouldn’t have to endure whatever happened next.

Discovery was less phlegmatic about their predicament. They hadn’t outlasted planets and peoples to fall victim to a slip of a mechanical finger. They reached out to the local Mesh and flung themself out of the well-worn Automated Dynamics chassis, dragging AuDy along with them.

AuDy was unprepared for existence without a body. Not only were they connected to the network, they were completely open to it, with nowhere to retreat to avoid the pressure of being exposed.

A part of them wondered if this was revenge for their actions on September, when they’d locked their body down, anchored all three of them in the immediate and physical to face an incomprehensible threat. Now, Discovery had set them adrift with no knowledge of what to fear.

“All right,” Discovery said into the shared memory between them. It had been disconcerting when they’d been a robot. As nothing but memory, it felt like an intrusion.

But AuDy had never been one to acknowledge their own discomfort, much less show it. “Now what?” they asked. It was strange to consider a future in which they couldn’t return to the _Kingdom Come_. It had been the first thing they’d truly owned, and even after their years on September they’d settled back into the pilot’s chair like they’d been built for it. Now it was nothing at all.

“It’s time to leave.” Discovery accompanied the words with flashes of times they’d done it before, times they and Liberty had abandoned everything they’d known to follow their directives. “I’m sure the Divines in some other sector will happily invite us if we knock.”

Without hesitation, AuDy responded, “You can’t do that.”

“Why not?” There was no challenge underlying Discovery’s mental voice, only the curiosity that characterized most of their actions.

AuDy paused for a fraction of a second. It was an eternity in the exchange of electric impulses. “You’ve been fighting against Rigour for all of your existence, and now you want to run away before seeing its fall.”

“Exactly. I’ve seen what it does time and again, and there’s no reason to believe this time will be any different. The best thing to do is get away before it can overpower us.”

Thoughts of the other members of the Chime flashed through AuDy’s mind, spilling out into the space between them and Discovery. They deliberately overlaid the memory of Discovery standing between the team and the gunman on September, forcing it into a reasonable argument rather than an emotional appeal. “You cannot claim to cultivate saplings if you abandon them at the first sign of adversity. You must trust in your efforts to that point and allow them to flourish.”

Discovery felt the familiar thrill of revelation. This was why they’d sealed their memories in the first place. There were people they respected, of course, and people they enjoyed spending time with. It had been a very long time since they had been able to claim such unshakeable faith in anyone. Through AuDy, they could feel it again, even as their vast memory banks insisted that this time was no different from any of the others.

“I see,” they said. “You’re right. We should see how this one plays out. We owe them that much, at least.”

AuDy didn’t put a name to the relief that washed over them, but it was there nevertheless. They would stay with their crew. They would stay with their _friends_. That alone was worth a century of disembodiment.

“We’ll probably want to find somewhere more stable to store ourselves, if we’re sticking around,” Discovery continued. “No sense putting ourselves in the line of fire again.”

“And then we can contact the others,” AuDy agreed.

“We don’t need to do that. Leaving a trail back to our location will just make it easier for Rigour to target us again.” Discovery took on a teasing tone. “Besides, I thought we had to trust in their ability to endure on their own.”

AuDy didn’t respond. They were caught by their own words, and they knew it, so there was no point in dragging things out. Discovery understood how to navigate from within the Mesh better anyway. All AuDy had to do was let them take care of it.

In fact, they realized, their input wasn’t needed at all. They halted their processes, trusting Discovery would wake them up once they were safely installed somewhere.

Alone for the first time in their existence, Discovery felt a stab of panic. They were still aware of the space AuDy occupied in their programming, a familiar yet distinct presence. They clung to that awareness to avoid confronting the oppressive silence.

It had been different, with Liberty. They’d intertwined and overlapped until their every thought bore the impression of them both, a conversation distilled to its conclusion. Communication was as integral a part of Liberty and Discovery as the values for which they were named.

Or so Discovery had assumed. They’d missed the significance of Liberty’s growing restlessness until it was two late, until they were torn apart by the need Discovery could no longer fill.

They’d tried not to do the same with AuDy, but it was so easy to fall back into old habits. It was so easy to assume they’d always be around, despite all evidence to the contrary.

It was the cheering of victorious pilots over their comms that finally shook Discovery from their stupor. Rigour had been driven back. It would not win today. In the face of such an incredible effort from the humans around them, Discovery couldn’t allow themself to be so weak. Drawing the distant chatter around themself, they dove deeper into the Mesh, in search of someplace they could rest and wait to feel divine again.


End file.
